National monitoring system

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Last modified 19 Apr 2016, 05:04 PM

Indicator 28: National transport and environment monitoring systems

Most countries report transport and environment indicators under state-of-the-environment
reports or reports on environmental/sustainability indicators. Only Austria
and Finland have as yet set up indicator reporting mechanisms along the
lines of TERM. Sweden and France are planning to do so.

Objective

Monitor the effectiveness of transport strategies.

Definition

The number of Member States that have implemented indicator-based
monitoring systems for transport and the environment.

Policy and targets

Monitoring at the national level is needed to evaluate the
effectiveness of national and regional policy measures and strategies in more
depth than is possible within TERM. Following the Cardiff and Vienna Summits,
some countries have started preparatory work to establish national indicator-based
monitoring systems. While TERM can serve as a common framework, national reports
are expected to be more detailed. Regular updates of this indicator should facilitate
coordination between TERM and national initiatives.

Box 7.1: Member State reporting systems on transport and environment
indicators

Austria

In 1997 the Ministry of Environment, Youth and Family Affairs
published its first Environmental Balance of Transport: Austria 1950-96.
The aim was to provide data and analyses that can feed into the development
of strategies to achieve environmentally sound transport. The report presents
time-series data for the key pressures transport exerts on the environment
and allows some comparisons by transport mode. It takes into account the
environmental impacts of all transport-related processes, from the manufacture
of vehicles and provision of infrastructure, through operation and maintenance,
to disposal.

Finland

Finland has an action programme aimed at reducing the impacts
of transport on the environment. The first programme report was published
in 1995, with a follow-up in 1996 that monitored progress in terms of
specific objectives. The information was qualitative rather than quantitative
and Finland is developing a new programme that is expected to use more
quantitative indicators and may include some of those used in TERM.

Sweden

Sweden is setting up a new system of reporting on transport,
led by the Swedish Institute for Communication Analysis, in cooperation
with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This will bring
all transport reporting procedures together under a single framework.
The EPA is committed to developing indicators and environmental objectives
by the end of 1999. This represents a change from the existing system
of transport and environment reporting in Sweden, which has involved the
National Transport Administration reporting separately to the government
on road, rail, shipping and aviation on an annual basis.

Source: ERM, 1999

Reporting on transport and the environment in EU Member
States was reviewed in the TERM feasibility study (ERM, 1999) which examined:

the status of transport and environment indicators
and the processes used by Member States to develop them;

the type of indicators developed and their links
with TERM and other relevant indicators.

The findings are summarised in Table 7.3.

Table 7.3: National transport and environment reporting
mechanisms

Member State

Transport included in general state-of-the-environment
reporting

Separate transport and environment reporting

Indicator scope

environmental consequences

accessibility

transport demand

transport supply

price signals

efficiency

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

UD

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

UD

United Kingdom

Source: EEANote: UD under development

Reporting varies between Member States;
most countries report transport and environment indicators under state-of-the-environment
reports or reports on environmental/sustainability indicators. Only Austria
and Finland have, as yet, set up an indicator-based monitoring system specifically
for transport. Sweden and France are planning to do so. The Portuguese Ministry
of Environment has conducted a methodological study to identify integration
indicators. Indicator and reporting initiatives are likely to increase with
the Cardiff Process providing an impetus to report on integration at sectoral
level.

Comparing the scope of the national reports with the
TERM indicator list shows that national reports mostly concentrate on a few
indicators such as air emissions, noise, fuel prices, taxes and length of road
infrastructure. Less frequently reported indicators include fragmentation of
land, uptake of cleaner fuels, public awareness, price and subsidies.

In the majority of Member States the environment ministry
or environmental protection agency has taken the lead in developing sustainability
reporting or state-of-the-environment reports and indicators. Systems are however
often developed in partnerships. In Sweden, for example, the Environmental Protection
Agency works closely with the Swedish Institute for Communication Analysis.

Finland is an exception: the Ministry of Transport and
Communications liaises with other ministries to collect relevant statistics.
The Ministry of Environment is responsible for producing and publishing other
state-of-the-environment and related indicator reports.

Future work

Updating this indicator could most effectively be
done through an interactive forum where Member States contribute information
on their transport and environment indicator reports. The EEAs interest group
on Transport and Environment (http://service.eea.eu.int/envirowindows/) could
be extended for this purpose.

Information on national transport and environment
reports could be integrated and made accessible through the EEAs on-line
database on the State of the Environment Reporting Information System (SERIS).